Share
About 225,000 workers, most of them union members around the Great Lakes, are back to earning good pay checks as the commercial shipping season opened in the Twin Ports March 22.
About 400 members of USW Local 5000 sail as Great Lakes Seamen. Also aboard are members of the Masters, Mates, and Pilots, the marine affiliate of the International Longshoremen’s Association. The ILA, Operating Engineers, Teamsters, many more USA, Electricians, Machinists, over a dozen railroad workers’ unions and numerous other unions work the water and waterfronts on the Great Lakes.
Executive Director of the Duluth Port Authority Vanta Coda said last July that the Duluth/Superior ports create 1,200 jobs that pay 10 percent over the median salary. These ports account for 11,000 other jobs that generate $546 million in wages he said.
There is little ice on the Lakes this spring, which will allow for great early shipping. That’s good news for the Twin Ports which are the farthest inland ports on the St. Lawrence Seaway system. This western end of the Seaway is very dependent on the Soo Locks in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. They were opened at 12:01 a.m. last Saturday and the first vessels through were expected here Sunday.
The first ocean going “salties” generally arrive here in the second week of April.
Boat watching is a great activity for many area residents and peaks during the tourist season when many landlocked folks from around the Midwest revel in seeing the huge boats and ships. The Duluth ship canal affords an opportunity to get very close to them.
Dozens of boat watchers were on hand March 22 with cameras when the Roger Blough started the shipping season here just after 7 a.m. on a chilly morning passing under the iconic Aerial Lift Bridge. It left empty to pick up iron ore pellets at the CN docks in Two Harbors, MN. It was expected to be the lead ship downbound, as she was in 2016, to steel mills on the Lower Lakes with ore mined and processed into taconite on Minnesota’s Iron Range by Steelworkers.
There are many ways to keep track of boat activity here but remember that all vessel departure/arrival times are estimates and subject to change without notice.
www.duluthboats.com is an excellent website for arrivals, departures, and facts on vessels. Watch real-time transits at www.marinetraffic.com or http://ais.boatnerd.com.
http://www.duluthport.com is the website of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority that serves Duluth and Superior. You will find an unbelievable amount of information there on the 35 million short tons of cargo handled here each year.
This port’s principal outbound cargoes are iron ore (40%), coal (40%), grain (5-10%). Primary inbound cargoes coming here are limestone, cement, salt and energy-related project cargo.
Annually an average of nearly 900 vessels visit the Twin Ports.